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New here - not diagnosed (yet) but chest CT scan showed areas of concern


Shasari

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Hi there,

 

I am glad such a community exists. I hope I am not jumping the starting gun and being paranoid here, however since the paternal side of my family had cancer issues (GM had multiple METS cancers that ultimately cut short her life; father had prostate cancer and possibly others, but I don't have that info as it was not shared by the dr's.,  and died of a complication recovering from surgery) and I recently got some disquieting results on a CT scan for heart problems where they reviewed adjacent organs, I thought I would post here.

 

I'm 50 years young, and my heart conditions consist of an ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm, and a pulmonary aneurysm, which is why I was having the CT scan - they were following up on the size of the aneurysms and the below findings were incidental.

 

I got the raw results yesterday, and while I've not yet heard back from my DR I do expect to hear something, certainly at the follow up app't I have in December.

 

So here's what was noted outside of my heart issues that has me concerned. I should add that until age 28 I was a passive smoker, living in a house with 2 chain smokers (my parents). I also tried cigarettes but I doubt the few I smoked would have much effect. I also have been exposed to asbestos dust from truck brakes until I got out of vehicle mechanics and into computer IT work, after college.

 

So, here's what I know:

 

---raw data from CT scan:

 

Lung parenchyma: 4 mm nodule in the left upper lobe (4/169). 
Additional 2-3 mm pleural based nodules are also seen in the left 
upper lobe (4/71 and 4/93). 

 

--- dr's impression:

 

3. Nonspecific, subcentimeter mediastinal/hilar lymph nodes. 

 

4. Pulmonary nodules measuring up to 4 mm. Recommend correlation 
with prior imaging if available. If not, recommend follow up per 
Fleischner Society guidelines: no follow up in low risk patients or 
12 month follow up in high risk patients. 

 

----

Does any of this signify any cause for concern? I'm just waiting now for the dr. to get back to me in a message or something. I'm not fretting overly much but I am concerned.

 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

~Dave

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Dave,

 

I'm not a doctor so act on his or her recommendation.  I found a Cleveland Clinic citation that might put your mind at ease as concerns the reported 4 mm nodules - here: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_Pulmonary_Nodules.  Note the concern starts at  4 cm and yours are much smaller than the concern level.

 

I am a lung cancer survivor and my scan reports are full of nodule observations.  The major challenge for my radiologist and oncologist is correlating previous scans to current results.  Complexity is introduced because sometimes the nodules grow and or recede scan-to-scan.  All of them for the last 8 years have not been cancer!

 

Stay the course.

 

Tom

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Hi Tom,

 

I thank you for your reply and information. Yes, that very much does put my mind at ease. I will of course follow my doctors' recommendations (she's also treating me for my aortic and pulmonary aneurysms), and I appreciate your time and your kind reply.

 

~Dave

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